Took a hot minute to pull the trigger on this but here we are. It's been a crazy year with a lot of good coming from it despite the ill that surrounds the world today.
We're situated in Peoria, AZ. Having bought the house back in September of '20 - moving from Dallas, TX. Wife and I are both AZ natives so it was a homecoming and a desired one at that. Took advantage of a work opportunity to come back to the valley where we would be near some family support systems while we start our family. All had worked according to plan as my wife was pregnant within 2 weeks of moving back and we had our first little baby girl in May of this year. Turning 4 months tomorrow, it's been an incredible journey so far.
Despite all of the busy this year, ive been able to make some good strides on the property. A lot more to be desired in terms of overall aesthetics for landscaping but the turf is coming in. It is a mixed bag of differing Bermuda cultivators but it'll do for the time being. This is the first year I've incorporated a fungicide, insecticide and PGR routine into my cadence.
Property Specs
.89 acres
18k sqft mowed at .70".
Flood irrigated every 14 days + sprinklers as needed.
This spot is directly in line with the underground piping for the flood water. Roots must be significantly shallower as these spots dry out 2x faster than anywhere else. Picture from May*
Ive plugged these gaps a little but not nearly what I should have to fill it quickly. Still work to be done today. Picture from August 7.
A brief look into what flood irrigation looks like. Property can take about 2 hours with of water. Most areas are anywhere from 14-20in deep after which. Water is typically gone within 24 hours.
Got a nice little delivery today from Hancock. 160# of Champions GC. Planning to overseed the entire 18k front and back. Will be another month until I get this seed down based on historicals
What are the pros/cons of flood irrigation compared to normal irrigation? It seems like flooding the yard would use quite a bit more water than sprinklers but maybe I'm missing something?
What are the pros/cons of flood irrigation compared to normal irrigation? It seems like flooding the yard would use quite a bit more water than sprinklers but maybe I'm missing something?
Significantly more water. It's a unique offering for a small subset of homes across the greater Phoenix area. It's just really cheap, been around for a long time and originally meant for farmland. $180 for the year, flooded every 14 days from April to October and once monthly for the rest. I can take up to 3 hours of water each time but my property really maxes out around 2.
The Pros
1)Cheap! My standard water bill is ~$60 a month + $15 for the flood. In the dead beat of the summer I'll supplement with around .5in of water with my sprinklers. All else is from flood.
2) Significantly cooler in the neighborhood. Since everyone 2 blocks north and 2 blocks south of us have the same flood irrigation, everyone maintains a lot of grass. Rare for AZ.
The Cons
1) Scheduling can be rough. Everyone locks in the amount of time they're requesting for water and then a schedule is sent out. Your timeslot can be at any time of the day, without exception. Ive had the 12p starts and I've held the 3a starts.
2) Bugs. Not a major concern now that I have a good insecticide routine in my apps but at first it was crickets galore. When you see crickets, scorpions are close by. Fortunately never had an issue with scorpions and now I rarely see any bugs.
Significantly more water. It's a unique offering for a small subset of homes across the great Phoenix area. It's just really cheap, been around for a long time and originally meant for farmland. $180 for the year, flooded every 14 days from April to October and once monthly for the rest. I can take up to 3 hours of water each time but my property really maxes out around 2.
The Pros
1)Cheap! My standard water bill is ~$60 a month + $15 for the flood. In the dead beat of the summer I'll supplement with around .5in of water with my sprinklers. All else is from flood.
2) Significantly cooler in the neighborhood. Since everyone 2 blocks north and 2 blocks south of us have the same flood irrigation, everyone maintains a lot of grass. Rare for AZ.
The Cons
1) Scheduling can be rough. Everyone locks in the amount of time they're requesting for water and then a schedule is sent out. Your timeslot can be at any time of the day, without exception. Ive had the 12p starts and I've held the 3a starts.
2) Bugs. Not a major concern now that I have a good insecticide routine in my apps but at first it was crickets galore. When you see crickets, scorpions are close by. Fortunately never had an issue with scorpions and now I rarely see any bugs.
That's interesting. I had never heard of it before so I wasn't sure if it was something you decided to put in or something that was a unique offering to your area/region. Has there been any push-back from environmentalist to move to only sprinkler irrigation to conserve water? I would imagine something like the water supply is something that's argued over fairly often in a city like Phoenix that's in the middle of a desert.
When you put down that PRG will you just time it up so that you are putting it down right after the yard dries up from a flood? Or, would you just not flood the yard for a couple weeks so you don't have to worry about the water moving all the seed?
@Highlife159 Here's a little video regarding the process - https://blog.srpnet.com/irrigation-101/. Phoenix does OK for water, in better shape this year due to all the monsoon rain we did get. Wouldnt shock me if it was eradicated in the future but then again it's been around since 1900s.
I'm leaning towards seeding post flood but I worry about continued growth of the Bermuda since it won't be overly cool still. Post seed I'll just sprinkler irrigate until I have good coverage. Last year I didn't have a great take (dummy omit starter Fert) and I only did the front and a small section of my backyard for the dogs, about 9k in total. Doing the whole thing this year will be fun.
@Highlife159 "flood" irrigation is fairly common in Arizona and has existed LONG before any whites settled (in) the region. Arizona has been extremely fortunate in that generations of work have been implemented to help "preserve" our water supply. Regions of Arizona have a great water table and aquifer systems. Arizona's in ground storage is massive and very well managed for the most part by several entities. YES environmentalists are a major problem, so is public ignorance, as well as government incompetence . . . . but those discussions (imo) are best kept to be discussed over a cold frosty adult beverage while hanging out by a campfire or playing a yard game on some nice green grass.
@robbybobby you didn't specify when you are thinking of overseeding . . . *** EDIT*** just saw in your seed bag pic post, a month out ***.... I look for mid or low 60's at night and prefer highs lower than 85°. On good years, I can overseed in early Oct. Other years not til Nov..
@PhxHeat yeah probably mid October will be the ticket. I tried at the very beginning of Oct last year and it was still too warm. Agreed on the temps…trying to lock it in ASAP.
Hydraulic Fluid leaking again, different spot but can't seem to pinpoint. Having a tech come out tomorrow to pressure test and see what gives. Fortunate it wasn't overly heavy but it is allll over the back . Drips here and there and only when running. Any thoughts??
Yes sir, leak from the 3100. Had a tech out this morning and was able to pinpoint it quickly. Oil seal came off the crank case. Cheap parts fortunately. Will be back in business by end of the week.
The 3100 is back in business! Oil leak kill off was confined to the drip locations so overall pretty pleased in the minimal damage. Dealing with a significant Spurge issue that has exploded over the past two weeks. Hitting it with Spurge Power this evening.
First cut in 8 days. Work has been killer lately and with hours of daylight dwindling…weekends are my only option. Grass is no longer under regulation and as such I generated 3-50 gallon bags of clippings.
Temps are prime this coming week and into the weekend. Looking to hit it once more with TNex to stunt the Bermuda and its overseed time!
Finally got a chance to update the journal. First cut since seed went down on 10-15. Had some issues with irrigation after seeding, had to replace solenoids on 4 stations. Not painful but being at work all day didnt allow me to diagnose very quickly. Still seeing some seed begin to germinate even now. Weather has still been warm during the days with highs in the high 80s and into the 90s.
All in all, coverage is OK. Cutting at .7 with the 3100. Triple cut in most directions to get an even first cut. Still seeing some growth from the Bermuda underneath. Seed heads are always a pain in the rear lol.
Quick mow mid morning. Not a ton of growth, only 1-50# bag of clippings. Still fairly warm during the peak of the day, high of 91 today. Looking forward to the 70s late next week.
I have another 10# bag of seed that I'll use to touch up certain areas.
First mow in roughly 2.5 weeks. Not a lot of growth but long enough that it too a few passes to catch it all. Good amount of rain the in last few days has helped.
My sprayer is still busted (bad pump). Need to get that addressed here soon as I believe I'm still dealing with a little fungus in the turf.
Spot sprayed for chickweed and clover with Dicamba and Triclopyr.
Trifluralin for a pre-e against goatheads.
Bermuda is starting to peak through. My scalp unit (Tru-Cut) is acting up. I could dethatch but I don't think enough Rye has been killed off yet. Going to wait until next weekend to transition.
I feel like I only post the area I'm proud of but will share more sore areas and progress this year. One area in particular I am interested in doing some cultivator experimenting. This area is largely neglected as it is only about 600 sqft. Laid down the pre-e in this area last week and came back today with the spot spraying.
Expanding the reel low turf a bit. Taking the collars out another 12-18 inches to minimize what I need to manage with the rotary. Planning to maintain the collar around 1.25-1.5". Held it around 2.5" last year and while it provided good contrast between the reel low…it wasn't great looking in my opinion.
Ripped out the two failing fruit trees and took her down as low as possible with the rotary. Couple section of heavy weed that I'm letting die off more before knocking back.
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